The second competition day of the 2026 Paddle Europe Sprint, Paracanoe and Masters European Championships in Montemor-o-Velho featured four official Masters European Championship events. Gold medals were won by athletes representing Belgium and Germany and one title went to Individual Neutral Athlete.
Over the 500-metre distance in Portugal, paddlers competed for official European Masters titles in four different age categories.
In the 60-64 age category, Belgium's Bart Stalmans was the fastest, covering the course in 1:54.543. He finished just 0.235 seconds ahead of Denmark's Per Selchau, while Portugal's Elio Henriques took third place, 4.834 seconds behind the winner.
In the 55-59 category, Individual Neutral Athlete Viatcheslav Rubanau claimed victory with a winning time of 1:51.976. Germany's Klaus Gieres finished second, 1.465 seconds behind, while Poland's Dariusz Bukowski secured third place (+2.125).
Germany's Torsten Reuter became the European Masters champion in the 50-54 category. His winning time of 1:46.745 was more than three seconds faster than runner-up Jonas Ragauskas of Lithuania. Portugal's Sergio Ferreira finished third, 3.714 seconds behind.
Another European Masters title went to Belgium thanks to Wim Eerdekens, who was the fastest in the 45-49 category with a time of 1:48.888. Italy's Constantin Terzago took second place, 1.420 seconds behind, while Spain's Alejandro Aguera finished third, 1.580 seconds off the winning pace.
Several additional 500-metre races were also held, although they were not official European Championship events. Victories in those races went to athletes from Germany, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Ukraine and multinational crews.
Saturday brings more Master events and European Championships titles. Livestreaming is available via Planet Canoe Yutube Channel.
LIVESTREAM: https://www.youtube.com/PlanetCanoe
RESULTS: https://timetable.europecanoeevents.com/index.php?gmt=1&gmt2=-60
12.6.2026
